Trevor Farnes of MTN OPS: The Mission-Driven Principle That Transforms Personal Adversity Into Market Leadership

Startups have such a glamorous reputation. Companies like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Uber, and Airbnb once started as scrappy startups with huge dreams and huge obstacles. Yet we of course know that most startups don’t end up as success stories. What does a founder or a founding team need to know to create a highly successful startup? In this series, called “Five Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Startup” we are talking to experienced and successful founders and business leaders who can share stories from their experiences about what it takes to create a highly successful startup. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Trevor Farnes

Trevor Farnes is the CEO, and Co-Founder of MTN OPS, an energy and nutritional product company focused on the outdoor industry in Fruit Heights, Utah. Trevor’s focus and mission at MTN OPS is that of improving the lives of individuals and families through transformational products and a community built to inspire individuals to conquer more in life.

After many years of facing hunger issues themselves, Trevor and his wife Jenna founded the MTN OPS initiative, Operation Conquer Hunger, to conquer hunger within the most vulnerable households in Utah, throughout the country, and Malawi, Africa. From every order on their company website, MTN OPS donates a meal to a child in need. Within just a few short years, they have donated well over 4 Million meals and are committed to conquering hunger, one order, one meal, one child at a time.

Above all else, Trevor is devoted to his faith, husband to his beautiful wife of twenty years, Jenna, and the proud father to their four incredible children, Hallie, Kenzie, Beckham, and Savvy.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I grew up in an entrepreneurial family where my older brothers had started and ran successful businesses. Watching them do what they did and seeing what they could provide for their families motivated me. In fact, when I was in high school, I started my first business called DC Home Care. I lived in Washington, D.C. then, and I set up a small warehouse to receive and ship durable medical supplies to companies on the East Coast. It was an educational process for me to see how to start up a business, get licensed, create a bank account, and then process transactions through that account. I think some of the bankers and shipping companies thought I was crazy, but at the same time I felt like they were impressed by my motivation to learn and do something at a young age.

When I was eighteen — right after graduating from high school — I decided to leave school, work, family, and friends to dedicate two years of my life to serving a mission for my church in Leon, Mexico. For two years I focused solely on teaching people about Jesus Christ and looking for ways to serve those in the communities I was assigned to in Mexico. This gave me some incredible experiences that solidified my foundation in life and how I wanted to approach life with passion and a mission to devote myself to. For that reason, when I ultimately started my own business, I knew it had to be doing something mission-driven with an impact for the good of others.

Upon returning home from serving in Mexico for two years I met the woman of my dreams. Jenna and I were soon married at the young ages of eighteen and twenty-one. Sometimes that’s the way things work here in Utah. We just happened to celebrate our twentieth anniversary this month. As we got married and then as we started to have children shortly after, my roles and responsibilities in life began to change. As a husband and as a father I was now responsible to provide, preside and protect those in my home and under my love and care. Now working for my brothers in the pharmaceutical industry and having created a great commission for my family, I felt like I was doing a great job as a young provider.

In 2007 my wife and I decided to try our wings, leave my brother’s business, and start our own business, which was the ultimate goal. We invested cash into the first business we started. It was a franchise.

What was the “Aha Moment” that led to the idea for your current company? Can you share that story with us?

In 2010 after a series of business failures (including the franchise we invested in crashing and burning) and learning opportunities, I was reading a book called NO More Heart Disease by Dr. Louis Ignarro. He won the Nobel Prize in 1998 for his work with Nitric Oxide. Nitric Oxide was what my father needed at the time. Our family had a history of heart disease, as both grandfathers passed away from either a stroke or heart attack and now my father needed two stents in his heart to keep him alive. When the stents were placed in his heart, the cardiologist told him he would need open heart surgery in about five years to correct things fully. It was at this time that I read this book and learned about the effects of Nitric Oxide on the cardiovascular system to improve blood pressure and aid those suffering with Neuropathy.

I decided that if there was something I could sink my teeth into, with a personal mission to support my father, it would be in creating a product that could benefit him and those around me who also needed cardiovascular support. I met with a chemist, created a prototype of the product I desired, put my father on it, and within a few days the feeling in his fingers and toes started to return. It was not drastic or overnight, but it gradually improved and now thirteen years later, my father has not had the need for that open heart surgery.

When we began seeing the impact of Nitric Oxide on my father I decided to dive in head first to create and distribute this product, not under the MTN OPS brand but as ENDURO. I had one very serious problem… I had no money, I mean no money to my name. My brothers decided to invest in the company with me and their investment afforded me enough to buy my first 350 bottles of product. Since that time I have been working with chemists to build products with long-lasting effects and benefits on the body for daily consumption.

In 2014 after selling products through doctors’ offices for 4 years we found an incredible need and opportunity to take the products I had worked to create into the outdoor industry where there was a major hunter-athlete movement and the MTN OPS brand was born. The brand, the product, and community we built filled a void that our industry was primed and ready to receive.

Was there somebody in your life who inspired or helped you to start your journey with your business? Can you share a story with us?

My father was the inspiration for my first foray into supplements, while my wife and family have inspired me to work hard and provide along every step of the way.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

We are a very mission-driven, principle-based company. Not only do we have core values that are written upon the walls of our office, but they are truly written upon the hearts of the individuals within those walls. Our team and what we stand for is our big differentiator. At the heart of MTN OPS is a group of individuals who are working tirelessly to improve the lives of individuals and families in everything we do.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

Because of the hard times we faced as a family we encountered food insecurity for many years. This experience gave us new eyes to see the need within hunger that surrounded us on a daily basis. With these new eyes to see this need in a unique and powerful way, my wife and I committed to each other and to God that we would use what resources we might gain over time to feed the hungry. One of my favorite quotes or sayings is “You are most powerfully positioned to serve the person you once were.” So we are doing all we can now to serve the person suffering how we suffered. Every order that comes through MTN OPS allows us the resources to provide a meal to a child or a family in need. Right now we are hovering right around 4.5 million meals that have been donated.

Being a faith-based organization and family the stories of Jesus Christ multiplying a few loaves and a few fish have always stuck with me. Early on in our business struggles I made a commitment with my wife and with God that as soon as we had a few loaves and fishes, not when the boat came in full, we would do all we could to multiply them for the masses. Our MTN OPS community has joined in on this journey and through “Operation Conquer Hunger”, one order, one meal, one child at a time.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success?

I let time do the hard work. People always say they do not have enough time. I do not believe this to be true. I believe that a God who gives us the time we have knows the time we need. What we need is more energy, and we lack the energy because we do not prioritize the time we have been given and so we exhaust our efforts into too many things that are not meaningful to our success or that of others. I have found time to be one of my greatest assets and I just never gave up. I have been resilient and have had the stick-to-it-iveness to make it through when others may have given up. When you lack the talent, let time do the hard work.

Interdependence has been key to my success. Building a team and being an arranger who can bring people together under a common goal and mission has been imperative to my success. I just could never do it alone and my team is the secret sauce.

I have not wavered from my Core Values and Beliefs. At MTN OPS we have a set of core values and beliefs that I personally call My Conquer Code. They have been the guardrails and decision-making factors for our business. The number one core value at MTN OPS is Recognizing God, which is a very bold statement to make within the workplace. But I believe in involving Him, His influence, and try to recognize His hand in all things. My faith in a supreme being has led me through dark times and into the light on many occasions and I feel it a great blessing to enjoy direction from higher ground as we work to improve the lives of others.

Often leaders are asked to share the best advice they received. But let’s reverse the question. Can you share a story about advice you’ve received that you now wish you never followed?

There have been deals or opportunities I have invested time and resources into based on the feedback or advice of others, but I don’t look back and wish I had never followed them — mainly because of what learnings I gained through those experiences. I believe that the perspective we gain through successes and failures gives us new eyes to see in an incredible way, blessing our future because of the new found wisdom, knowledge, and experience.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?

Early in my entrepreneurial career I invested virtually all of my capital that I had saved into multiple locations of a franchise, which quickly went south. That was a really hard time for me and my family, as we were facing a foreclosure on our home and were left without the resources for groceries — we went through our food stock and it was a rough time. Eventually someone in our life realized and began dropping groceries on our doorstep, which was a tremendous blessing and helped us through. It was this experience that was the seed for what would eventually become “Operation Conquer Hunger”, through which we’ve given back about 4.5 million meals and counting to hungry children and families in need.

Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard? What strategies or techniques did you use to help overcome those challenges?

For me it came down to a few things, but Faith and Family were at the top of the list. I am a firm believer that all good things in life require effort, persistence, patience, and an unrelenting commitment to the objective. For me to be able to persevere in something like this, it has to be something I believe in, and once I found my mission/calling within business and life to improve lives I was all in. I have also found that I need to have faith in the abilities God gave me to succeed in life and while being a simple man I have found that he has given me an ability to endure, which requires faith. Enduring time can be a challenge and many quit far too quickly. I believe that a God who gives us the time we have in life knows the time we need and so I have let time do the hard work when it has come to overcoming challenges. Ultimately it is my faith in the Lord that has allowed me to find strength to conquer the mountains that have been put in my path.

When it comes to family in this process of overcoming challenges, I look at my own personal family and my MTN OPS team of family members at the office. I strongly believe that surrounding yourself with a supportive group of family, team members, etc. will give you the strength you need to endure and to ultimately conquer. As we connect we conquer and I have been very fortunate in my life with the family I have, starting with an incredible wife who is loyal, faithful, and supportive through the highs and lows. I have children who encourage me, just by being my children. Having the responsibility as a father to provide, preside, and protect gives me motivation to conquer the challenges as an example to my children and as an opportunity to provide all that I would like to for them in life. My MTN OPS family are truly an extension of my family and I want and desire their success maybe more than I want my own. To endure for them, working hand in hand is an amazing blessing in life — as the saying goes “They rise highest who lift as they go.”

The journey of an entrepreneur is never easy and is filled with challenges, failures, setbacks, as well as joys, thrills and celebrations. Can you share a few ideas or stories from your experience about how to successfully ride the emotional highs & lows of being a founder”?

For me it’s about grounding myself in my family and my faith. My wife in particular helps me to stay focused and not get too high or too low. While being invested and working hard are obviously key to success, it’s also important to have something outside of business that you can focus on to help you navigate the ups and downs that come with being an entrepreneur.

One thing I would add is that being a founder or CEO can be a lonely experience — I’ve found that surrounding myself with an amazing board, exceptional mentors and advisors, and an executive team who feel like family helps me to not only navigate business challenges but to always feel a part of a larger team and effort. And of course, my family that I can go home to at night and be grateful for and ultimately my connection and recognition of a God who I always know is there — so in the end I’m never really alone.

Let’s imagine that a young founder comes to you and asks for your advice about whether venture capital or bootstrapping is best for them? What would you advise them? Can you kindly share a few things a founder should look at to determine if fundraising or bootstrapping is the right choice?

I only have the experience of bootstrapping to turn to. It wasn’t until my 13th year of running my own businesses that I brought on a growth equity partner. Up until that point we bootstrapped and hung on by the skin of our teeth to make these businesses succeed. Not everyone is cut out to weather the storm that bootstrapping can bring to your life. So when approaching this with a young founder I would try to determine whether they have that stick-to-it-ivness to live such a life, where you go without the wants and you only focus on the needs of life for a period of time, truly delaying gratification which is so hard for many these days.

But what can occur in the life of a young founder/entrepreneur is incredible for the potential of their business but even more so in becoming something greater than they could had they not gone through the struggles of bootstrapping. Learning qualities that will bless them forever because of their sacrifice is priceless. After all, isn’t this all about the journey? So much of the time — and especially in our fast-paced lives — we want to arrive at the destination today, when the journey will make that destination so much greater, and so much more powerful in the end.

What are your “Five Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Startup”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.

Mission

Brand

Product

Team

Distribution

What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?

They start something that has no relevance to themselves, their life, or their interests and they are only focused on a transaction. They lack a mission to sink their teeth into, which will give more purpose and reason to endure the struggles they will inevitably face.

Here are a few other mistakes I’ve observed:

They partner with people who do not have the same value set as themselves.

They cut corners because they seek immediate gratification and success.

They dilute too quickly, leveraging resources of others to get through.

They wait too long to bring on the talent that is necessary to scale.

Startup founders often work extremely long hours and it’s easy to burn the candle at both ends. What would you recommend to founders about how to best take care of their physical and mental wellness when starting a company?

Create a routine that you have personal integrity with and if you need help build a personal advisory board of mentors who can hold you accountable.

If you have a family this is especially important to consider, because your spouse and children are far more valuable to you than your new startup. No amount of success can compensate for failure within the walls of your own home.

So for me a daily routine, which I call a Conquer More challenge, has been critical. Each day I focus on conquering more, with just one objective, when it comes to the Spiritual, Physical, Mental, and Social quadrants of life.

First thing in the morning I spend 15–20 minutes of my day in prayer, meditation, and scripture study. I then spend at least 60 minutes in physical activity running or going to the gym. I have committed to writing for 15–20 minutes a day for my mental quadrant. My writing at times includes journaling, thank you cards, or even a social post. On the social front I make sure to make connections each day or reconnections each day with people who should know I care and that my relationship with them is important.

None of this takes a lot of time, but a consistent and intentional effort in each of these realms allows me to feel an overall wellness in my personal life.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I have started that movement with my wife, my children, and my MTN OPS family and that is “Operation Conquer Hunger”, through which we’ve given back 4.5 million meals to hungry children and families to date. I firmly believe that when you remove hunger from the life of a child you inspire hope, confidence, and divine connection within that child. At MTN OPS for every order that we receive we donate a meal to a child in need and we have donated millions of meals. But we are just scratching the surface for what is needed to truly CONQUER hunger. My desire and my commitment to conquering hunger will not let me rest until we have exhausted every effort to achieve our goal. I invite other business owners, individuals, leaders, and anyone with a desire to conquer this issue to join with us and when enough join together, locking arms to serve those most needy and vulnerable within our communities we can ultimately CONQUER HUNGER one meal, one child at a time.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

I have a few, but trying to figure out how to write about them.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Mtnops.com

@mtnops on IG

@trevorfarnes on IG or Facebook

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!

About the Interviewer: Douglas E. Noll, JD, MA was born nearly blind, crippled with club feet, partially deaf, and left-handed. He overcame all of these obstacles to become a successful civil trial lawyer. In 2000, he abandoned his law practice to become a peacemaker. His calling is to serve humanity, and he executes his calling at many levels. He is an award-winning author, teacher, and trainer. He is a highly experienced mediator. Doug’s work carries him from international work to helping people resolve deep interpersonal and ideological conflicts. Doug teaches his innovative de-escalation skill that calms any angry person in 90 seconds or less. With Laurel Kaufer, Doug founded Prison of Peace in 2009. The Prison of Peace project trains life and long terms incarcerated people to be powerful peacemakers and mediators. He has been deeply moved by inmates who have learned and applied deep, empathic listening skills, leadership skills, and problem-solving skills to reduce violence in their prison communities. Their dedication to learning, improving, and serving their communities motivates him to expand the principles of Prison of Peace so that every human wanting to learn the skills of peace may do so. Doug’s awards include California Lawyer Magazine Lawyer of the Year, Best Lawyers in America Lawyer of the Year, Purpose Prize Fellow, International Academy of Mediators Syd Leezak Award of Excellence, National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals Neutral of the Year. His four books have won a number of awards and commendations. Doug’s podcast, Listen With Leaders, is now accepting guests. Click on this link to learn more and apply.